Into the Flames → Liam Dunbar [2]

Epilogue

All that remains is a fate whose outcome alone is fatal. Outside of that single fatality of death, everything – joy or happiness – is liberty. A world remains of which man is the sole master. What bound him, was the illusion of another world. The outcome of his thought, ceasing to be renunciatory, flowers in images. It frolics – in myths, to be sure, but myths with no other depth than that of human suffering and, like it, inexhaustible. Not the divine fable that amuses and blinds, but the terrestrial face, gesture, and drama in which are summed up a difficult wisdom and an ephemeral passion.

Albert Camus said this.

Addy found the words he spoke of something that remained in the back of her mind all day. During the day, she found herself wondering back to those words. They stuck with her just as much as Liam stuck by her side. The scramble of intricate words recited themselves over and over again in her head.

The meaning behind a philosopher's words were impossible to comprehend unless you were the one who spoke them. But Addy knew what they meant, in her own way at least. Her definition of the theory would be far off from what Albert Camus meant; she knew that. But it didn't matter, because as long as she understood the words in her own way, then it just didn't matter.

"Hey, you okay? You kinda zoned out for a minute," Liam asked, concern laced his voice. Addy smiled at him and nodded her head.

It had been nine days since Brayden left, and she couldn't shake the feeling that something about Reyna was still suspicious. She didn't tell Liam of her thoughts. Only Scott and Brett knew. They had been forced to promise that they wouldn't tell anyone else about Reyna, because Addy knew that if she was wrong, then an innocent girl would endure the wrath of a werewolf pack.

"Good. Come on." Liam stood up and grabbed her hand. He dragged her through the busy halls of the school. It was the end of the day, and Addy was to get her licence. It was about time that she took the test, and she wanted to get it before shit hit the fan again. Besides, she was tired of always having to ask for rides from her friends.

Fortunately, she talked to her mother about it a few days ago, and she stopped in the building to sign all the paper work required, so all Addy had to do was take the test. Addison was never nervous for tests. Not once had she been so worked up over a test, but this test was different than the ones she took in school. This test meant more to her than getting her licence; it was the test of maturity. She wanted to prove that she was mature enough to do things on her own.

Her hands were shaking as she entered the office. All her friends got their licences on their first try, except for Malia, and it was going to majorly suck if she failed. Liam grabbed her hand when he noticed she was scratching her wrists.

"You gotta stop doing that," Liam scolded. He glanced down at her raw wrist and watched it heal, the red skin becoming the usual tan pigment. Her scratching was getting worse; he noticed that.

"I can't." Addy squirmed out of his grasp. It wasn't like she enjoyed inflicting that pain upon herself, but her subconscious always did damage before she noticed. "When I got my memories back, you remember when I said they held me with iron restraints?"

"A little too vividly, yeah." Liam nodded. He remembered very well. She explained every little detail to them, all the rawness and pain that her arms endured while being restrained. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"I think it's a traumatic thing," she began. "Muscle memory, so to say. Every time I close my eyes, that's all I can see: glimpses of what happened. Every little detail is etched into my brain, and I don't think I'm going to be able to forget."

"I-I think that you don't want to forget," he said. Addy looked at him curiously, and Liam dragged her away from the few amount of people in the silent building. Thankfully, music played so no one could hear their conversation. "I know it's stupid, but I think that the reason you don't want to forget is because you're scared."